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Vote on a ship! *cracks whip*
Jul. 5th, 2003 04:05 pmI am going to write a MPreg fic in which the impregnated male gives birth, only to freak out and kill the wicked creature who tortured him so. A comedy. *cough*
[Poll #153485]
[Poll #153485]
Jul. 5th, 2003
*tosses vase*
Jul. 5th, 2003 10:20 pmOk, some fen are stupid. We all know this, right? But I'm increasingly annoyed by a particular attitude that seems to be spreading like a nasty VD. I'm thinking about the kind of fannish appropriation and notions of entitlement and importance that allows fans to think that JK Rowling is cribbing off of and shouting out to fic authors. I find it the gravest of insults to criticize the woman's writing style and choices in one breath, and then suggest that her forays into online fandom are responsible for certain of her plot points and passages of dialogue, in the next.
Fen read the source text and discover subtext, which stimulates fannish discussion, the creation of fanon and all the fun stuff we enjoy. We take from JKR and then branch off from her work. I've always thought that one should approach new canon as freshly as possible and never try to write fannish interpretations onto canon. Reading any other way is dangerous, because it leads to the kind of bizarre arguments found on these FAP threads. How many of us really think that she would alter her original work, because of another's interpretation of it? That she's incapable of crafting a novel alone, without cribbing off her fans?
Many of the arguments for fannish influence on JKR are pretty damn thin and I think they arise because the fans want to feel important and involved. They seem to think that they have a right to be in on the process, because they're appreciators of her work. We have to remembers that fans and fandom come afterward. We are separate from canon, except in our fannish activities - it is through fanfic that we become involved, not in creating canon, but reinterpreting it. Reading it.
I could give you hundreds of examples of this kind of nonsense. "This is a reference to Cassie Claire's DT." "This is a reference to Snarry!" "Slash, slash! She's baiting the slashers." Fen need to remember that these references exist because we read them as being there, not because JKR explicitly put them there. Just like H/D exists as subtext, because fen see it, not because JKR is a secret shipper.
To me, the attitude is insulting to JKR and fen at the same time. It acts to marginalize fannish activity, in that it's not validated until JKR has acknowledged it in canon. Anyone who's had their special shout-out from Rowling is well, special and everyone else is a generic fan.
*hums* I will not be annoyed by trivial fandom issues. I will not be annoyed by trivial fandom issues. Arg!
ETA: If certain scenes read like fic? It's because JKR hinted at them in the previous novels and the fen aren't so incredibly stupid that they missed them. Maybe some fen are slack-jawed fucktards with sloping foreheads, but NOT ALL FEN ARE MORONS. *seethes*
Fen read the source text and discover subtext, which stimulates fannish discussion, the creation of fanon and all the fun stuff we enjoy. We take from JKR and then branch off from her work. I've always thought that one should approach new canon as freshly as possible and never try to write fannish interpretations onto canon. Reading any other way is dangerous, because it leads to the kind of bizarre arguments found on these FAP threads. How many of us really think that she would alter her original work, because of another's interpretation of it? That she's incapable of crafting a novel alone, without cribbing off her fans?
Many of the arguments for fannish influence on JKR are pretty damn thin and I think they arise because the fans want to feel important and involved. They seem to think that they have a right to be in on the process, because they're appreciators of her work. We have to remembers that fans and fandom come afterward. We are separate from canon, except in our fannish activities - it is through fanfic that we become involved, not in creating canon, but reinterpreting it. Reading it.
I could give you hundreds of examples of this kind of nonsense. "This is a reference to Cassie Claire's DT." "This is a reference to Snarry!" "Slash, slash! She's baiting the slashers." Fen need to remember that these references exist because we read them as being there, not because JKR explicitly put them there. Just like H/D exists as subtext, because fen see it, not because JKR is a secret shipper.
To me, the attitude is insulting to JKR and fen at the same time. It acts to marginalize fannish activity, in that it's not validated until JKR has acknowledged it in canon. Anyone who's had their special shout-out from Rowling is well, special and everyone else is a generic fan.
*hums* I will not be annoyed by trivial fandom issues. I will not be annoyed by trivial fandom issues. Arg!
ETA: If certain scenes read like fic? It's because JKR hinted at them in the previous novels and the fen aren't so incredibly stupid that they missed them. Maybe some fen are slack-jawed fucktards with sloping foreheads, but NOT ALL FEN ARE MORONS. *seethes*